is therein stated that Pharaoh was sitting one day with
Moses on his lap, when the child took the crown from the king's head and
placed it on his own. The "wise men" of Egypt persuaded Pharaoh that
this act was treasonable, and that the child should be put to death.
Jithro [_sic_] the priest of Midian, said it was the act of a child who
knew no better. "Let two plates," said he, "be set before the child, one
containing gold and the other live coals, and you will presently see
that he will choose the coals in preference to the gold." The advice of
Jithro being followed, the boy Moses snatched at the coals, and putting
one of them into his mouth, burnt his tongue so severely that ever after
he was "heavy of speech."--_The Talmud_, vi.

=Moses Pennell.= Waif rescued from a wrecked vessel, and adopted by old
Captain Pennell and his wife. He is, in time, discovered to belong to a
noble Cuban family.--Harriet Beecher Stowe, _The Pearl of Orr's
Island_.

=Most Christian King= (_Le Roy Tres-Christien_). The king of France is so
called by others, either with or without his proper name; but he never
styles himself so in any letter, grant, or rescript.

In St. Remigius or Remy's Testament, King Clovis is called
_Christianissimus Ludovicus_.--Flodoard, _Historia Remensis_, i. 18
(A.D. 940).

=Motallab= (_Abd al_), one of the four husbands of Zesbet, the mother of
Mahomet. He was not to know her as a wife till he had seen Mahomet in
his pre-existing state. Mahomet appeared to him as an old man, and told
him he had chosen Zesbet, for her virtue and beauty, to be his
mother.--Comte de Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ ("History of Abd al
Motallab," 1743).

=Mo'tar= ("_One doomed_ or _devoted to sacrifice_"). So Prince Assad was
called, when he fell into the hands of the old fire-worshipper, and was
destined by him to be sacrificed on the fiery mountain.--_Arabian
Nights_ ("Amgiad and Assad").

=Moth=, page to Don Adriano de Arma'do, the fantastic Spaniard. He is
cunning and versatile, facetious and playful.--Shakespeare, _Love's
Labor's Lost_ (1594).

_Moth_, one of the fairies.--Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night's Dream_
(1592).

=Moths and Candles.= The moths fell in love with the night-fly; and the
night-fly, to get rid of their importunity, maliciously bade them to go
and fetch fire for her adornment. The blind lovers flew to the first
flame to obtain the love-token, and few escaped injury or
death.--Kaempfer, _Account o